


Planned

by imekitty



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Angst, Gen, Horror
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-18 18:27:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 14,726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28747683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imekitty/pseuds/imekitty
Summary: Maddie wants her own half-ghost specimen. Jack watches her rig the portal to shock and mutate their son.
Comments: 57
Kudos: 195





	1. How It Started

**Author's Note:**

> I originally posted this first chapter as a response to a prompt on Tumblr. It was popular enough that I decided to keep adding to it with additional scenes. This fic is therefore not like my other fics, it's more like a nonlinear collection of related scenes.
> 
> That said, there is something like a plot, and I do have an ending in mind. But this fic could keep going on for a while as long as I think of more scenes to add.

"Jack, I found a perfect candidate," said Maddie. "Someone whose DNA would meld with ectoplasmic properties so beautifully. Someone who could be a very stable ghost hybrid."

Jack joined her at the counter in their lab. Ever since their old college friend, Vlad Masters, had become a ghost hybrid, they had been trying to determine if they could create their own, someone who could handle the spectral mutation without the gruesome side effects Vlad suffered.

"Really? Who?" asked Jack, glancing over her notes.

Maddie perked up and bounced on her toes as she clutched a couple papers to her chest. "Our son."

Every muscle in Jack's face froze. "What?"

"Yes!" Maddie pointed to her calculations, her samples, her tests. "He's perfect. His body would handle the mutation splendidly. He would not only survive but thrive. He'd be…" She breathed in, her eyes fluttering. "Incredible."

"But you're not serious, right?" Jack gestured to her notes. "We can't do this to Danny."

"But he's all we have, Jack!" Maddie gripped her notes tighter, causing them to crinkle. "We've been trying to figure this out for almost fifteen years now! Not a single person we've tested has come even close to what we need."

She held her hands out over the counter, over all of her work, all of her experimentation on their son's hair and skin cells and blood, bits and pieces of their boy he had no idea she had been collecting and playing with.

"We are _never_ going to find someone like this again," she said.

"But we can't," insisted Jack, not even believing he had to insist this at all.

"It won't hurt him," said Maddie. "It will only make him stronger. He'll be healthier. He'll live longer. He'll look young longer. He won't have to be afraid of anyone or anything."

"You say 'will' instead of 'would' like you've already decided this is what's going to happen," said Jack.

He looked at her hard. She held his gaze.

He knew there was no changing her mind.

...

"Here, let me show you," said Maddie as she stood in front of their ghost portal. "I've calibrated everything to Danny's specifications."

Jack poked his head in the portal. "And you're sure this will work?"

"Of course! It worked for Vlad, didn't it? And Danny's body will handle this far better than Vlad's did. He'll be stable immediately."

Maddie's arms waved up and down and around as she explained her plan. Jack hardly moved at all as she spoke.

"There's a sensor here," said Maddie. "It's keyed in to Danny's biological signature. So when he trips the sensor, about ten seconds later, the portal will switch on and administer a perfect shock of ectoplasmic energy, the perfect combination that will rearrange his molecules into something part ghost, part human."

Jack's eyes darted around the interior of the darkened portal as he imagined the powerful field of energy he knew it was capable of creating.

"And the portal will only switch on when he's in here alone," Maddie continued. "If it detects anyone else, it won't switch on. So see, it's perfectly safe. No one else will get hurt. And Danny definitely won't die."

"You said this wouldn't hurt him," said Jack. Accusing.

"Well." Maddie sucked in her bottom lip. "It might hurt him a little. Because the current needs to be high for this to work. But only for a few seconds, and I promise I made both the current and voltage as low as I possibly could."

"You're kidding!" cried Jack. "You're kidding! You must be kidding!"

Maddie pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes.

"You're not kidding," murmured Jack.

...

"Take a look at this," said Maddie. She held up two pieces of fabric, one black, one white. "It's what we make our suits out of. I just zapped these in the portal at the specifications set for Danny. This one used to be white, and this one used to be black. They inverted their colors!"

"Uh huh," said Jack. "And that's important because?"

"Whatever Danny wears when he's zapped is going to become embedded with ghost properties. It needs to be something that can withstand the shock as well as his body can. It needs to be something strong and resistant."

She showed him the patterns she had been sketching for a protective suit. Mostly white with black accents.

"The colors should reverse when zapped," said Maddie. "Do you think he'll like it?"

Jack had no answer for her.

...

"Danny, come down here," Maddie called from the lab.

Danny made his way down the stairs. Jack kept his back turned as he pretended to be very busy at his own workstation.

"Here. I made this for you." Maddie handed him the finished jumpsuit. "It's designed to protect you from ectoplasmic spills or contamination. I'm making one for Jazz too, but I just figured I'd give you yours now since it's done."

Danny took the suit from her and looked it over. "Thanks, but why do I need one?"

"Oh, you know." Maddie shrugged. "Just in case you ever want to help us in the lab. We want you to be protected."

Danny rubbed his thumbs against the fabric. "Well. Thanks. I guess."

"Ectoplasmic contamination is dangerous, Danny," said Maddie very seriously. "You really shouldn't ever be around it without protection. This is why Dad and I wear our suits all the time. Really, you shouldn't even be down here at all without wearing one."

She gestured to their ghost portal.

"Even just stepping into that portal when it's inactivated can expose you to dangerous levels of spectral energy," said Maddie. "You understand, Danny?"

"Um…yeah." Danny studied the suit again. "Why isn't it orange like Dad's?"

"I just like these colors. Don't you?"

"I don't know. It might've looked cooler if the colors had been reversed. You know, like black with white gloves?"

Maddie smiled. "Hmm. Interesting."

Jack's hand shook as he wrote, turning his notes into illegible scrawls.

Maddie stood up with a heavy sigh and walked toward the portal. "It sure is a shame we can't get this portal to work, though."

"Really? It still won't do anything?" asked Danny.

"Mmm hmm. We've pretty much given up on it by now."

Jack hunched over and shut his eyes.

...

"Danny, Jazz is studying at the library, and your father and I are going to be gone for _three hours_ ," said Maddie.

Danny was slumped on the couch where he was playing a video game with Tucker while Sam watched.

"Okay," said Danny, not looking up from his game.

"Three. Hours," said Maddie more firmly. "Do you understand? You three will have the house to yourself for a while."

Danny creased his brow. "Okay?"

"So look after the house while we're gone, please." Maddie slung her purse over her shoulder. "And don't get into any trouble, okay? Remember our lab is off limits."

Sam sat up a little straighter. Danny nodded. Jack kept his glassy gaze trained on Maddie, who appeared to be fighting back a grin.

They were leaving their lab completely unlocked. There was no security surrounding their portal at all. Full access to anyone who wanted to investigate it.

And Sam was right here and had just heard their lab was off limits. Exactly what the rebel goth teen needed to push Danny to break the rules and do something he normally would never do.

Jack followed Maddie out of the house. Once the front door was shut behind them, she let her grin break through.

"I really hope this works," said Maddie. "I really hope he does it. All he has to do is step inside alone. That's it. Do you think it will work?"

Jack wrapped an arm around her and led her to their parked RV.

...

A few weeks later at breakfast, Jack pretended not to notice as Danny dropped his spoon through his intangible hand and gasped.

"That's strange," said Maddie, holding up a device that was beeping loudly. "Our reader says that a ghost is nearby. But that can't be right. There are no ghosts here, are there?"

She looked across the table at Danny and Jazz.

"Do you two see any ghosts?" she asked.

"No," said Jazz with a roll of her eyes.

"No," said Danny with a tremor in his voice.

Jack leaned over to look at the screen on the device. It was not a ghost detector. Of course. They didn't need one right now. They knew their son was a ghost already.

Rather, it revealed the intensity of the ghostly energy in the room. Energy obviously radiating from Danny. Energy that was spiking in perfect correlation with his anxiety.

Jack's gaze moved to Maddie's face. She looked so giddy, so enthralled.

She had taken this too far. He knew that. This wasn't right. What they had done to their son, what they had turned him into, this was horrible.

And Danny was scared.

Jack turned his attention back to the device. The measurements moved across the screen in mesmerizing patterns. His eyes followed them, spellbound. Data right here and right now they could use for their research, data they could now easily obtain whenever they wanted, right in their own house.

Horrible.

But…

Fascinating.

And maybe a little exciting.


	2. Kindred Spirits

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A twist on Kindred Spirits.

"Let me make sure I'm understanding you correctly," said Vlad. "You want me to kidnap your son?"

Maddie and Jack nodded.

"So that I can clone him?"

They nodded again.

Vlad huffed in amusement and leaned back on the sofa in the Fenton living room. "May I ask what you want a clone of your son for?"

Maddie and Jack exchanged glances.

"There are some tests we want to run," said Maddie quietly. "Some experiments we want to try."

Vlad's eyes sparkled. "You want to cut him open, don't you?"

"There are just…" Maddie shuddered, her voice shook. "There are so many secrets locked in his ghostly hybrid form. But obviously, we can't do anything with the real Danny. Never. But if we had a clone, we could do anything we want. And the real Danny would never have to know."

"You're terrible."

Maddie and Jack said nothing.

"But I wouldn't expect anything less from the great and beautiful Maddie Fenton." Vlad smirked. "Or Jack Fenton, of course."

"It wasn't my idea," muttered Jack.

"No, of course it wasn't," said Vlad with a sneer. Jack's gaze hardened.

"We need you to do this, Vlad," said Maddie. "We can't do it. Danny can't know that we know he's half ghost. And your cloning technology is far more sophisticated than ours is."

"You're with him all the time. You can't just collect samples of his DNA?" asked Vlad.

"We can't get the mid-morph DNA," said Maddie. "We can't extract that unless he's in the process of transformation. Which we can't do without being right there. Which we can't do because he can't know that we know he's a ghost."

"But he does know that I know he's a ghost," mused Vlad, looking off to the side and crossing his arms.

"Right, and you're already an established enemy of his," said Maddie. "He'll never suspect Jack and I have anything to do with it. He'll just think it's all you without a second thought."

Vlad chortled. "You're right. You're absolutely right. He would never know."

There was a long silence in the room. Jack kept his head low while Maddie stared straight across at Vlad.

"All right," said Vlad. "I will do this for you. For the price you offered to me. But only because you're such good friends of mine." He looked at Maddie fondly. "You know I'd do anything for you, my dear."

Maddie's lips thinned. Jack could see the vibrations in her left knee.

"It's settled. I will get that mid-morph DNA and make a clone of your son for you two to fuck around with." Vlad leaned back and spread his arms on top of the sofa. He looked up at the ceiling. "I'll just need to plan this out. Probably create a few test clones."

"Vlad, please," said Maddie. "Whatever you do, please don't hurt him, okay?"

Vlad guffawed. Jack raised his head while Maddie glared.

"Oh, are you being serious?" Vlad cocked a brow. "You engineered a ghost portal to shock him with several hundred volts of ectoplasmic energy, and you're asking _me_ not to hurt him?"

"I knew what I was doing," snapped Maddie. "I calibrated that portal to fit the exact specifications of his biology. He was never in any danger."

Vlad gave a slight roll of his eyes and scratched his temple. "I mean, I'll probably have to rough him up a little before I can successfully subdue him enough to take him back to my lab. God knows that scrappy little brat can put up quite a fight."

"Vlad," reprimanded Maddie darkly.

"Sorry, your _oh-so-darling_ son can put up quite a fight. And the mid-morph DNA extraction won't exactly be an enjoyable experience for him."

"We're just asking you to try," said Maddie. "Try your best not to hurt him."

Vlad eyed her warily. "You are aware that this clone I create will be Daniel in every way, right? He will think he's the real thing. He will see you as his mother, both of you as his parents. And he will have his own sentience, his own consciousness. He won't understand why you're hurting him. You know this, right?"

Jack rested his elbows on his thighs and leaned over, his head drooping toward the floor.

"Danny. His name is Danny, not Daniel," said Maddie. "And of course we know. That's why we need one. We need an exact replica of Danny to work with, exact even in memories and thoughts. One that is disposable. He may think he's the real Danny but he _won't_ be the real Danny. And Jack and I won't forget that."

Vlad blinked a couple times before exhaling and rising to his feet. "Well, then." He stretched his arm across his body, popped a couple joints. "I suppose I should get going. I have a teenage boy to terrorize."

He started to walk out of the living room toward the front door until Maddie gave him pause.

"Vlad," she said softly. "Please. Don't hurt him."

Jack turned his head to study his wife's face. Her eyes were wet.

Vlad did not move for some time. Then he nodded and silently left.

Maddie took Jack's hand in hers and breathed in tremors through hunched shoulders.

"This is the only way," she murmured to herself. "There's no other way. We have to. For our research. This is the only way."

Jack continued to watch her face, her eyes shut tight, her teeth clenched.

For once, it appeared even she was frightened by this scheme.


	3. The Sixth Clone

Jack looked over the notes Maddie had prepared for their lab session. "Are you sure this is what you want to do?"

"Of course I'm sure. I didn't spend all day writing all that because I wasn't sure," said Maddie from across the lab as she gathered all necessary equipment for the procedure.

Jack lowered the notes and studied the boy strapped down to their observation table. He looked exactly like Danny, wasn't even in ghost form. Of course he wasn't. Danny was rarely able to maintain his ghost form while unconscious, so naturally a clone wouldn't be able to do it either.

The clone stirred, his forehead pinched.

"Mads," said Jack. "He's waking up."

"You want me to talk to him?"

The clone's head groggily flopped to the other side.

"Yes," said Jack. "You talk. I can't do this. I—" He walked away from the table, clutched at the front of his jumpsuit.

Maddie took off her goggles. "It's probably better I do it anyway. He does think I'm his mother, after all."

Maddie approached the table and leaned over to be in the clone's view. The clone fully opened his eyes and inhaled hard as he looked around the lab and struggled against the belts holding him.

"Calm down," said Maddie, stroking his hand. "I know you're confused, but you need to calm down."

"What do you mean? What—is this—what are we doing here? Mom? Why am I—" The clone pulled against his restraints again. "What's going on?"

"We have a procedure to carry out tonight," said Maddie. "Don't worry, it's just one thing. But it involves you, of course. Because you're part ghost and we have a lot of information we need to gather about you."

Jack watched the clone's eyes widen in that familiar mixture of shock and panic.

"Wait," said the clone. "You know I'm a ghost?"

"Yes." Maddie stroked the back of his hand again. "That's why you're here. So we can learn more about you."

"What do you mean? What are you going to do to me?"

The clone's gaze moved to Jack. Jack promptly looked away.

"Why are you doing this to me?" the clone continued. "I'm your son!"

"No, you're not," said Maddie.

The clone ceased all struggling. "What? Yes, I am—"

"No, sweetheart. You're not our son," said Maddie. "You're a clone. A clone of our son."

The clone stared at only her, did not even spare a glance in Jack's direction. Good. Jack hated when the clone took notice of him.

"What?" the clone whispered.

"You deserve to know the truth before we start anything," said Maddie. "But it might be hard for you to hear."

"Hard for me to hear? What do you mean? What are you—"

"Shh, sweetie, I'm going to tell you." Maddie gestured to Jack. "We know you have ghost powers because we're the ones who set you up to receive them."

The clone's mouth fell open, only weak sounds pushing past his lips.

"We designed our ghost portal to shock you in just the right way so that you'd become a ghost hybrid," said Maddie.

Jack scowled. The way she used "we" as if he had a fair hand in this whole thing. He really wished she'd just take the full credit for it.

Then again, it wasn't like he tried very hard to stop her.

"Why?" the clone asked. "Why would you do that?"

"You were the only candidate we could find with DNA that would stabilize perfectly with an ectoplasmic mutation. We needed you, sweetheart. For our research."

"But—I don't understand—why would you do this, I'm your _son_ —"

"I already told you you aren't our son," said Maddie firmly. "You remember your encounter with Vlad and the test clones, don't you? We asked Vlad to clone Danny for us. A clone we can run experiments on." Maddie cupped the side of his face. "That's you."

The clone moved his head away from her affectionate hand, his eyes appearing dazed.

"And you understand how important our research is, don't you?" asked Maddie. "You're going to be a big help to us tonight."

The clone shook his head. "No, no, I don't want to be here, I don't want to—"

"I know you don't, but we can't just let you go." Maddie chuckled. "We can't have two Dannys."

"But I'm not a clone! I'm real, I'm Danny, I'm _me_ —"

"No, you're not." Maddie pointed toward the ceiling. "Danny is upstairs in his room studying for his history test." She scrunched her mouth and lowered her finger, looking up. "Or at least he better be. I told him to, so he better be. But it's getting late, so he might have gone out on patrol instead. And Jack and I haven't set up any measures to stop him from going out. It's part of our research to see how he balances his ghostly obsession with his human responsibilities."

Jack looked up toward the ceiling as well. Indeed, they allowed Danny to go out and fight ghosts whenever he wished, taking note of how often he chose to break curfew or shirk his homework, taking special note of the times he was able to control his obsession to complete chores or school assignments instead.

"We aren't exactly sure what his ghostly obsession is yet. Or yours, for that matter," said Maddie. "But we're working on it. Maybe we need to try grounding him again or some other punishment, see if we can get him to study over fulfilling whatever his obsession is. He _is_ getting a D in that class. History." She looked down at the clone. "But you already know that, of course."

"No," the clone groaned. "You're wrong. I mean, I'm not upstairs. I'm here. I'm Danny. I am! My whole life—I remember—my _life_ —"

The clone panted and twitched beneath the restraints. Maddie held his hand again. Jack wondered why she bothered trying to comfort him, what a useless effort.

Perhaps just her motherly instinct.

"Yesterday I went to school," the clone blurted. "And then I hung out with Sam and Tucker—"

"No, sweetie."

"And then I came home and you asked me to watch TV with you and you told me you loved me—"

"I didn't say that to you. I've never said anything like that to you."

The clone's expression became deeply wounded.

"You didn't exist until this morning," said Maddie. "Those memories aren't yours. They belong to Danny. The real Danny." She patted his hand. "You only have them because you're a nearly perfect copy in every way."

"No, that's not true," the clone shouted. "I'm Danny!"

"No, you're not."

"How can you say that? How can you know that for sure? I know I'm real. How do you know I'm not the real Danny?"

Maddie pulled up the sleeve of the hospital gown Vlad had dressed the clone in, exposing his upper arm. A bold number branded him in black ink, slightly raised and surrounded by red irritated skin.

"See?" Maddie pointed to the number. "The real Danny doesn't have a tattoo here."

The clone's gaze shifted wildly over the tattoo. "What is this? Where did this come from? Six? What does that mean?"

"It means that you're a clone." Maddie covered the tattoo with his sleeve again. "The sixth one we've had here. And that's how I can tell. Although it's not the only way." She brushed his cheek with her gloved fingers. "I can see small differences in your complexion, little imperfections in the arrangement of your freckles, things Vlad can't seem to control the outcome of perfectly."

She traced a finger along his jawline. The clone leaned his face into her hand and whimpered.

"But you do look… _so_ much like him," Maddie murmured.

The clone sniffled. "Mom, please—"

Maddie squeezed his shoulder. "We need to get started now, sweetheart."

"Started?" A tear trailed the clone's face. "No."

"Yes. But listen." Maddie brushed the tear aside. "The experiment should only take an hour or two, and then it will be over. You won't have to go through anything else."

"You mean you'll let me go?"

The clone's bright blue eyes shone with what Jack knew would be his last bit of life. Eyes that really did look exactly like Danny's and it was astounding to Jack that Maddie could stare right into them and tell him such awful things without even flinching.

"No," said Maddie. "I told you, we can't have two Dannys. But you will be gone. Like the other clones. Nothing else to hurt you after tonight."

The clone's jawline tightened and parts of his face twitched and pulsed as he breathed erratically and shook beneath the belted restraints. He turned his blanched face toward the stairs leading out of the lab and screamed, "Jazz! Jazz! Help—"

Maddie clamped a hand over his mouth, muffling the screams. Jack straightened, his own body spiking with adrenaline.

"We've soundproofed this room," said Maddie. "We even installed dampeners so that Danny's ghost sense can't detect you. No one outside of this lab can hear you."

The clone's screams quieted and faded into sobs. Maddie uncovered his mouth and placed her hands on either side of his face.

"I know you're scared," said Maddie softly. "But you are going to be such a wonderful help to us, sweetheart. You mean so much to us. To me."

"I don't want to do this." The clone's words were choked and low. Small pinpoints of sweat beaded on his forehead even in the cold lab. "Don't make me do this. I'm not a clone. Why are you doing this to me? Mom? Why?"

The clone's desperate eyes darted to Jack. Jack sighed.

_Stop looking at me. I can't help you._

Maddie stroked the clone's hair.


	4. Hiding the Evidence

Near a back door of Vlad's mansion leading to his lab, Jack parked the Fenton RV and proceeded to pull the body bag from the trunk area.

"Please be careful with that, dear," said Maddie.

Jack bit back every retort he had and carried the bag in both arms as he followed her through the door to Vlad's lab.

"Maddie, Jack," greeted Vlad cheerfully. "Go ahead and place him here."

Jack laid the bag on the table Vlad indicated and stepped away. Maddie stepped forward, standing on the opposite side of the table from Vlad.

"I must admit, I was not expecting you to finish with this one so quickly," said Vlad. "I only just delivered him to you yesterday."

"Yes, well, this particular study did not take too long," said Maddie.

"What exactly did you do?"

"We wanted to see how much ectoplasm he needs in his system to stay alive. So we basically drained him and measured how much we drew at different intervals. In particular, how much remained after he finally died."

"And the results?"

"Not as low as for full ghosts. There was a little less than a liter left in his body after he died. But that's certainly lower than the amount of blood a human can survive with." Maddie looked down at the bag. "I actually think I might try it again with his human form. See if his ghostly resilience allows him to survive with less blood than the average human."

"That's horrible." Vlad chuckled. "Mind if I…? Or should I wait until you leave?"

Maddie nodded, and Vlad unzipped the bag to reveal the deceased clone's upper body, his skin nearly translucent with no color at all. His eyes were slitted open just a fraction; Jack had had a difficult time getting them to close completely.

Vlad examined the tattooed "6" on the clone's right upper arm, now white after he had been forced to transform. "How did he respond to the study? Any problems?" Vlad pushed aside a few stray strands of the clone's white bangs.

"Well." Maddie paused. "He was very vocal at first. Of course, like always. But once we actually started, he became very quiet. So quiet. I didn't even need to gag him this time." Maddie paused again. "But his face… I could see everything in his face. His twisting expressions as we drained him."

Maddie turned from the table. Vlad was no longer looking at the body, his eyes focused only on her.

"I had to cover his face after a while," said Maddie softly. "It was just too hard to look at."

"Is that so?" asked Vlad.

Maddie placed her hand against her mouth, her lips gently surrounding a finger. Jack could not even guess what she was feeling in this moment. Certainly not remorse for what she had been doing to these replicas of their son, he knew that much by now.

"Yes. Well." Maddie cleared her throat and turned back to Vlad. "It's not like we needed to take note of his emotional or physical responses in this particular experiment. We didn't need to see his face."

She hastily zipped the bag closed and handed a folded sheet of paper to Vlad. "Here. The instructions for what to do with the body. We'll stop by some time next week to check on this one and the others, take notes on how they've been eroding or destabilizing."

Jack wondered if, perhaps, this time, he might decline accompanying Maddie to the graveyard of clones situated in an isolated plot on Vlad's property.

Vlad unfolded the paper and glanced over the handwritten instructions. "No preservation and no covering, basically. Understood."

"Yes. I am curious how no ectoplasm will affect this one's destabilization. So nothing special for this one."

"Perhaps you'll need to drain another one in the future so that we can see what preservation does under these circumstances."

"Perhaps."

Vlad and Maddie both became quiet. Part of Jack wished they could return to the short period of time when Maddie was furious with Vlad for endangering her and Danny in the Rocky Mountains.

And now she had actually asked Vlad directly to hurt Danny; how times had changed.

"When would you like the seventh clone?"

"Would next weekend be too early?"

"Never for you, my dear. Never."

Maddie nodded and began walking out of the lab. Jack gave Vlad a dull glance before following her.

All part of the routine now.

...

"Danny?" Maddie called as she entered the house. "Danny, where are you?"

"Here," returned Danny's voice from the kitchen. Jack entered behind Maddie to find Danny sitting at the table snacking on some chips and playing on his phone.

"Hey, sweetie." Maddie placed her hands on either side of his face and kissed the top of his head. "I have something for you."

She reached into her purse and presented a game controller. Danny furrowed his brow as he took it from her.

"You said your second controller broke, so I went ahead and bought you a new one!" Maddie beamed. "So now you and Tucker can play together again."

"Wow, yeah, it did break." Danny smiled. "Thanks, Mom. This is awesome."

Maddie rubbed his back and left the kitchen. Jack followed her up the stairs to their room.

"You know that buying Danny a gift each time you murder one of his clones makes up for nothing, right?" Jack hissed in her ear.

"Let me do what I want, Jack."

Maddie quickened her pace and closed their bedroom door before he could step inside with her. Jack stood outside for some time before going back downstairs.

In the kitchen, Danny was playing on his phone again as Jack entered. There was certainly homework he could be doing, tests he could be studying for. Other things he _should_ be doing.

"I can do better in school," the sixth clone had promised in a bargain for his life. "I'm sorry I keep disappointing you, but I can do better. If you'll just—please, just let me go and I'll do better."

The clone was gone now. But here was the real Danny completely unaware and once again putting off his schoolwork.

Danny looked up and smiled. Jack stared back at him.

_I know what you look like dead._


	5. Friends Reunited

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter jumps way back into the past, a bonus prologue. As I said before, this story is not linear, so there will be other jumps in the timeline of this story.

Vlad spotted Jack and Maddie entering the restaurant. Ten minutes late but that was normal for them, so very like the two good college friends he remembered.

He stood and waved them over. Jack's face lit up with that familiar childlike smile. And Maddie, well, she was just as lovely as ever, just as he remembered her—well, no, something was different—

"Vladdy!" Jack clapped a hand on his shoulder. "We've been worried about you, bud!"

"We're so happy you reached out to us," said Maddie, rubbing her swelled belly.

"Yes, ah…" Vlad's eyes darted from her belly to her face. "You—you look—"

Maddie laughed. "Yes, yes, I am pregnant." She stroked Jack's arm. "Twenty-eight weeks. It's a boy."

A boy. A son. Vlad had imagined one day he'd have a son of his own. He once imagined Maddie would be the mother.

"You must be very excited," said Vlad.

"Oh, yes." Maddie's eyelids fluttered as she continued rubbing her belly. "I've always wanted a boy."

"Is he your first?"

"No, we have a gorgeous baby girl at home," said Jack. "That's why we're late: had to wait for the babysitter to get there."

"Oh my, so this is your second?" Vlad invited them to take a seat. "We really do have a lot of catching up to do, don't we?"

As they looked over their menus and then waited for their lunches to arrive, Maddie and Jack told him all about their continued research in the paranormal. Mostly failed attempts to reach the Ghost Zone or at least find a real ghost, but they continued to be optimistic.

Vlad in turn told them about his successful business ventures, the mansion he recently purchased in Wisconsin, and how the Green Bay Packers were being stubborn about letting him purchase them but he wasn't giving up just yet.

"Are you saying you're loaded, Vladdy?" Jack's eyes were huge, his mouth hanging open.

Vlad shrugged. "You could say that." That was perhaps an understatement at this point, but he wasn't about to say exactly how he amassed so much wealth in the first place, how he procured his first million. No, he couldn't tell them the countless people he had to overshadow using his ghost powers to get where he was today.

Ghost powers he had Jack to thank for. Ghost powers he had once hated Jack for. Ghost powers he was now okay with having. At least they were no longer destroying his body.

"Vlad." Maddie lowered her fork. "If you don't mind me asking… What happened? After the accident? That was the last time we saw you, and we were both so worried when we never heard from you again."

"Yeah, your face is looking much better, by the way!" said Jack with a grin. Maddie promptly elbowed him.

Vlad looked down at his plate. He knew this topic would come up, but he hadn't decided if he wanted to tell them the truth. Perhaps he would just begin and see what happened.

"I thought the…skin condition would clear up on its own at first," said Vlad cautiously, slowly. "I tried powerful cleanses, looked up regimens, washed my face several times a day. But it only seemed to get worse, and… I was getting worse, too."

His hand would randomly disappear, his leg would drop through the floor, his eyes would flash red in the mirror.

"I started feeling nauseous all the time. One day I collapsed, and my roommate at the time called an ambulance for me. I just remember waking up in the hospital connected to so many machines. And all the nurses and doctors, they would flinch every time they looked at me. I didn't even want to see a mirror ever again by that point."

"Oh, Vlad," said Maddie softly.

"How long were you hospitalized?" asked Jack.

"A couple months. Until I…" Vlad mulled over his next word carefully. "Escaped," he said more quietly.

Jack and Maddie reacted just as he expected them to as they exchanged confused glances.

"Until you escaped?" echoed Maddie. "Why did you have to escape?"

Vlad looked around the restaurant before leaning in closer over the table. "I wasn't sure if I was going to tell you," he said in a low voice, "but I think maybe you should know. Since you were there when this all started." He paused. "And because you two are still my friends."

"What happened?" asked Maddie, also leaning in.

"It's not a small thing. I haven't told anyone else about this. It's hard for me to talk about."

"What is it?"

"So you have to promise not to tell anyone either. And please try to stay calm."

"Vlad, tell us already."

"I'm a ghost."

Jack and Maddie gave him blank stares.

"Well, part ghost," said Vlad. "I'm not sure what percentage—haven't figured that out just yet—but ever since that accident with our proto-portal in university, I've had these strange ghost abilities. Powers, you could say."

"Powers? Ghost abilities? Like what?" asked Maddie.

"Like… I can move through solid objects. I can turn invisible. I can float. You know, typical abilities that ghosts possess."

"You can really do all that?" asked Maddie breathily.

Vlad again looked around and held up a hand in front of him, turning it invisible as discreetly as he could. Jack and Maddie gasped.

"Incredible," whispered Maddie.

"I didn't have much control over it in the beginning." Vlad lowered his hand. "My arm would disappear unexpectedly or my foot would drop through a stair. And my control over it wasn't much better in the hospital. It wasn't long before the hospital staff took notice of my strange abilities."

"They noticed?" asked Jack.

"Oh, yes. They would try to start an IV line and the needle would go right through my arm. And once, they caught me floating a foot or two off the bed." Vlad took a drink of water. "But of course, they had already suspected something was strange about me after looking at my bloodwork. They kept detecting traces of something they could not identify."

"Ectoplasm?" asked Maddie.

"Exactly right," said Vlad.

"So then what?" asked Maddie. "I'm assuming they wanted to run more tests? I know I would."

Vlad paused, smiled, stalled for a moment by taking a couple bites of his meal. He absolutely believed she would've wanted to run tests, no doubt about that.

Beside her, Jack was enjoying his meal. Maddie hadn't taken any bites in a while, her plate still mostly full.

"They certainly began talking about tests," said Vlad. "They discussed sending me off somewhere for more comprehensive testing. Once I heard them mention that the government might get involved, I knew I had to leave."

He stared at his plate, not wanting to meet Jack's and Maddie's gazes for the moment.

"They wanted to make me a specimen," said Vlad quietly. "I realized they were never going to let me go. I had to escape."

"How?" asked Jack. "Were you able to get the hang of intangibility?"

"But that wouldn't stop them from coming for him later," said Maddie. "They knew who you were, right?"

"You are correct," said Vlad. "And I knew I couldn't just use my powers to leave. They would just come for me again. Once I discovered I had the ability to overshadow people and take over their bodies, their minds, I knew what I had to do."

Maddie softly gasped. "You can do that too?"

Vlad nodded. "Anything a generic ghost can do, I can do. I overshadowed all of the doctors and nurses and staff who had been working with me, altered their memories, changed their directives and plans, convinced them that a Vlad Masters had never been in the hospital at all. And then I left."

"It was really that easy?" asked Jack.

"Well, it took some thought and coordination." Vlad smiled. "But yes, it was that easy."

"Were you no longer sick, then?" asked Maddie.

"Oh, I was still in a great deal of pain, felt nauseous all the time," said Vlad. "But after I escaped, I did my own research, using my powers to get me into the college's labs after hours without anyone knowing. I was able to find a way to stabilize myself. I practiced using my powers, controlling and restraining my ghost side." He rubbed a hand over his now smooth face. "The ghost acne cleared right up once I was able to stabilize. Though by the time that finally happened, I had already lost my friends." He paused. "Including you two."

"You didn't lose us," said Jack. "We tried to reach you."

"Yes," said Maddie. "We were so worried, but you wouldn't talk to us."

Vlad lowered his gaze. "I know. And I'm sorry. I just… I was ashamed. And afraid of what was happening to me."

And it had all been Jack's fault, if Jack had just been more _careful_ —

"And I guess I was angry too," murmured Vlad.

"Angry?" asked Jack.

Vlad smiled and finished off his entree, pushing it a few inches away from him. "But that's all in the past. I feel great now, I'm doing really well, I have so many plans for the future I'm really excited about."

"Hear, hear," said Jack, also finishing off his entree.

Vlad leaned back, his muscles unlocking. That hadn't been so bad. It felt so good to finally share his story, and who better to share it with than his closest friends who also shared his interest in the supernatural? Friends who could understand this part of him better than anyone else could?

Dessert actually sounded like a really great idea.

The server returned to gather their empty plates. But Maddie still hadn't finished her meal.

"Oh, sorry," said Maddie, snapping to attention when the server asked about taking her plate. "Could I get a box instead? Thanks."

"Not hungry today? Or did my story make you lose your appetite?" asked Vlad once the server left.

"No, usually she eats like a horse," said Jack. "Ever since she got pregnant, I mean."

"I know. I guess I'm just distracted," said Maddie.

"Distracted by what?" asked Vlad.

"Distracted by…you."

Vlad's chest thumped but he attempted to maintain a straight face.

"What exactly do you know about your ghost powers?" asked Maddie, her volume lowering as she leaned in closer. "Your ghost side? Have you been conducting any research on it?"

"Uh, some, but—"

"You know some about your ghost powers, or you've been doing some research on it?"

"Oh, well, yes, I've been doing some research, but—"

"So what do you know?"

"Just—still not a lot. I've been focusing a little more on my business ventures."

"Then maybe Jack and I could help."

Vlad blinked.

Maddie's whole face lit up as her skin seemed to visibly buzz. "We have our own lab. We bought this wonderful property right here in Amity Park and we fixed up the basement with everything we need."

"Right, you mentioned that."

"And you could come over some time—maybe the next time you're in town—and we could run some tests!"

"Ah—"

"Or we could even do it today, like after we're done with lunch."

"Mmm—"

"And we could collect some samples—tissue, hair, blood—take some X-rays, maybe even a psychological evaluation to see if you've developed any semblance of a ghostly obsession."

Vlad held in a scowl. A psychological evaluation? Did she think he was crazy? Like some mad ghost?

She continued on and on, all of her plans to study him, to reach inside him and pull out everything she needed to further her research on ghosts and the paranormal.

She wanted to make him the very thing the hospital staff had whispered about. The fate he had escaped from.

A specimen.

Vlad felt sick the longer she kept talking.

"Maddie," he interjected.

She didn't stop.

"Maddie," he tried again, more loudly this time.

Jack gently nudged Maddie. She straightened up, looking confused before relaxing.

"Sorry, I guess I got carried away," said Maddie, pressing a couple fingers to her temple and gently massaging it.

"Quite all right," said Vlad, forcing a smile.

"But will you think about it?" said Maddie. "It would at least be fun for us to do some research together again."

"I'll see," said Vlad.

The server returned with a box for Maddie's meal and the slices of chocolate fudge cake Jack and Vlad had both ordered. Jack began devouring his immediately. Vlad stared at his piece, not sure if he wanted it anymore.

"Do you think we could replicate it?" asked Maddie.

Vlad raised his eyes. "Hmm? Replicate what?"

"Your accident. With the portal. Do you think we could make that happen again?"

Vlad flinched. "Well, I don't exactly want to go through that again. It was extremely painful, and I don't know if I'd survive it a second time."

"No, not with you, of course," said Maddie. "With someone else."

A crumb fell off Jack's lips as he frowned at her with his cheeks full. Vlad did not move at all.

"What if we could shock someone again with energy from the Ghost Zone and give them ghost powers?" asked Maddie. "Create another ghost hybrid? Do you think that's possible?"

"I—" Vlad floundered for words. "I don't see why it couldn't be replicated, but I do think I just got very lucky to have survived at all. I think that shock would've killed most people. If you wanted to replicate it without murdering a bunch of test subjects first, you'd have to find a suitable candidate who has the DNA structure that would be compatible."

Maddie scrunched her mouth.

"You'd have to do quite a bit of compatibility testing," said Vlad. "You would want to make absolutely certain that whoever you select would not be killed by not only the shock but the aftereffects. Ideally, you'd want someone who would stabilize immediately after the transformation." He looked down at his hand; the veins were bulging with what he knew was a mixture of blood and ectoplasm. "Not like me. I wasn't stable at all at first. I had to save my own life."

"I bet we could find someone," said Maddie, drumming her fingers on her pregnant belly. "Don't you think, Jack? And wouldn't it be fascinating if we could recreate the incident with a more stable candidate?"

"It definitely would be," said Jack with a bite of cake in the side of his mouth. "Especially since we have yet to actually see a real ghost, let alone capture one to study. Maybe we just need to make our own to experiment on."

Jack and Maddie smiled at each other in agreement. Vlad looked from one to the other, not sure if what he was feeling was apprehension or intrigue. He couldn't deny his own interest in the paranormal, and as long as he didn't have to be the specimen of interest, then this didn't seem like a bad idea.

And he did like seeing Maddie so happy and excited. He had always loved her passion.

Yes. That was it. Get her interested in finding a new specimen so she wouldn't come after him.

Maddie continued drumming her fingers on her belly.


	6. Secret Weapons

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A twist on Secret Weapons this time.

"There's something you need to know, Vlad," said Maddie. She and Jack sat across from Vlad on the sofa in the Fenton living room.

"I figured since you called me over so suddenly," said Vlad. "Luckily, I can get here very quickly through our portals."

Maddie glanced at Jack before continuing. "Jazz knows Danny's a ghost hybrid. We don't know when she found out exactly since we weren't observing her as part of this study, but we do know now that she has revealed her knowledge of his ghost powers to him."

"Hmm." Vlad crossed his arms.

"This means she knows you're a ghost hybrid, too," said Maddie.

"Or she will soon," said Jack. "Danny will almost certainly tell her all he knows at some point."

Vlad stared at the floor. Jack watched his face but could not guess what he was thinking. He never was very good at figuring out how Vlad really felt about something.

He couldn't help but wonder if Vlad thought he and Maddie were monsters for forcing their son to be the subject of this horrific experiment.

"So what do you want me to do with this information?" asked Vlad.

"We're not sure how things are going to play out from here," said Maddie. "All we know is that Jazz is now officially part of our observation. We just want you to be aware that she knows who you are during your interactions with Danny. And Jazz may or may not join Danny on his patrol alongside Sam and Tucker, so just don't be shocked if you see her."

"I really hope she doesn't," murmured Jack. He couldn't bear the thought of his beautiful daughter being hurt or killed during a ghost battle.

"We can't stop her if Danny asks her to," said Maddie. "We can't interfere with what happens in that regard. We have to allow Danny to make his choices. We'll just do what we can to make sure neither of them are killed."

"Just like you made sure Daniel wasn't killed when he was shocked in the portal," quipped Vlad.

Maddie glared at him. "He _wasn't_ killed."

"I know. I was commending you for that." Vlad sneered. "You two clearly love your children very much."

Maddie snarled and rose from her seat a short distance before Jack gently placed a hand on her shoulder and guided her back down onto the couch.

"But thank you for telling me," said Vlad. "I shall take that into consideration in my dealings with Daniel from here on." He stood. "Before I leave, are there any new plans you want me to be part of?"

Jack could see the hard tension in Maddie's jaw and decided to answer for her. "Nothing right now. Thanks."

"All right. I'll see you two later."

Vlad headed down to the basement. Jack listened for the portal activating and shutting off before turning his attention back to Maddie, who was shaking.

"We had to do it this way," insisted Maddie, perhaps more to herself than to Jack. "Danny was the only one whose body could sustain the ghost mutation. It had to be him. We had to do it for our research. He's fine. This hasn't been hurting him. We're not hurting him. He's fine."

Jack patted her knee but said nothing.

...

Down in the lab at her workstation, Maddie's cell phone silently lit up as a call came in. She glanced at the caller ID: Vlad Masters.

"Jack, I'll be back. Just going upstairs for a break," said Maddie as she headed out of the lab. She waited until she shut the basement door behind her before picking up the call. "Vlad? What is it?"

"Maddie, hi. Your daughter is here."

"Jazz? Where?"

"Here. At my mansion. In Wisconsin. She's freshening up in the bathroom right now."

"What? What is she doing there?"

"I have no idea. Something about Daniel hating her. She says she's run away from home. Not sure why she came here, though. It seems like an odd choice to me."

Maddie thought back to what she and Jack had observed between Danny and Jazz the past few days. "Jazz has been trying to help Danny fight and capture ghosts, but she hasn't been very good at it, and Danny has been pretty irritable about it." Maddie paused, thinking some more. "They must've had some sort of fight about it. Something at school, maybe."

"Hmm. Well, she seems very upset." Vlad also paused. "So what do you want me to do about this? Should I bring her home? Or do you want to wait and see if she has some reason for coming here? Surely Daniel has told her I can't be trusted, so I have to admit, I am wondering if there is a hidden motive."

"I am wondering that, too," said Maddie. "Yes, let her stay for a while, see if there's maybe a reason for it. See if you can get her to call me and Jack so that we can have an excuse to not go out and look for her."

"All right. That shouldn't be a problem."

"Danny is probably going to come looking for her at some point. Expect him to be there within the next twelve to twenty-four hours." Maddie's brow creased. "In fact, maybe… Maybe you should try to help him get there if you can."

Maddie mulled over an idea, one that she had been considering for some time. This could be it. This could work.

"Maddie?" asked Vlad. "Are you still there?"

"You said you modified the Ecto-Skeleton, right?" asked Maddie. "And you can use bloodstream nanobots to prevent the wearer from being killed?"

"Yes, that is true. But why are you bringing it up now?"

Maddie headed upstairs to get farther away from the lab. She could not chance Jack hearing anything she was about to say.

"I need you to listen very carefully, Vlad," said Maddie in a hush, "and do exactly as I say."

There was silence for a moment.

"Tell me what to do."


	7. Danielle

"Vlad's calling." Maddie gestured for Jack to come closer on their living room couch and answered the call on speaker. "Do you have news for us, Vlad? Were you able to get Danny's mid-morph DNA?"

"I was," said Vlad. "Though he definitely didn't make it easy for me."

"But you didn't hurt him, right?"

"I might've traumatized him a little, but he's all right."

Maddie sighed with relief. Jack raised a brow but did not say anything.

"I made him think I didn't get it, of course," said Vlad. "And I allowed him to destroy one of my labs. An expensive way to make him believe he won, but it was worth it for you, my dear."

"So when can you get the first clone to us?" asked Maddie.

"I can have one ready in a couple weeks."

"Great. Just send us a bill." Maddie looked in the direction of their basement lab. "But in the meantime, you can deliver that female clone now. I'm really interested in seeing how she compares to Danny."

"Right. Yes. About that…"

"It's okay if you weren't able to stabilize her, Vlad. We'll take her as is."

"No, you won't."

Maddie frowned.

"She's gone."

Maddie froze. Jack watched her face and crossed his arms.

"What do you mean, she's gone?" demanded Maddie.

"I allowed her to bond with Danny because it was part of the plan to distract him from what was really going on. But then she escaped."

"Escaped? Escaped?" Maddie leaned forward, her back straightening. "Where is she?"

"I have no idea."

"No idea? Didn't you put a tracking device in her or something?"

"That would've been a good idea in hindsight, I admit."

"We have to find her." Maddie jumped off the couch and started pacing, holding the phone in her hand. "We have to recapture her. You must have some idea where she is!"

"Not a clue."

"We have to look." Maddie rubbed her neck and turned to Jack. "She's still a clone of Danny, right? We just have to think about where Danny would go."

"Why are you getting so worked up over this?" Jack rose to his feet and kept his voice calm, volume low. "So she got away. If she really did bond with Danny, she'll come back at some point. She can just be another variable in our research of Danny's behavior."

"But what if someone captures her?" Maddie's tone was almost shrill. "What if the Guys in White capture her?"

Jack shrugged. "Well, they could capture Danny at any time, too. We don't stress about that."

"No, of course not, because we know where Danny is and we can intervene and prevent him from getting captured. Which we've already had to do many times." Maddie clutched at her hair. "If the Guys in White capture this female clone, that could lead them back to Vlad—"

"Mads—"

"And then they'll find out who she's a clone of and that will lead back to us—"

"Mads, just calm—"

"And then they'll find out what we did to Danny, and—and—"

"Can you just—"

"We'd go to prison, Jack!"

"You think I don't know that?" shouted Jack. "What do you think I've been telling you this whole time? What do you think I've been saying since you first decided to make Danny our guinea pig?"

"Don't give me that. You were all excited about changing someone into a ghost hybrid, too."

"Yes, but I thought we were going to find someone willing. An adult." Jack scowled. "Not a child. Certainly not our child."

Maddie narrowed her eyes. "He was the only viable candidate we had. We had been searching for someone for nearly fifteen years!"

Jack huffed and looked up at the ceiling with a shake of his head. Maddie pursed her lips.

"Should I hang up?" asked Vlad.

Maddie exhaled through her nose and brought the phone closer to her mouth. "Can you just let us know if you find out where the female clone is?"

"Certainly," said Vlad.

"And keep us apprised of any updates with the cloning process using the mid-morph DNA."

"Absolutely."

Maddie ended the call and scowled at Jack. Jack returned it.

"You're really only worried about prison now, huh?" spat Jack.

Maddie turned on her heel and left the living room.


	8. Bitter Reunions

Jack and Maddie listened to the ringing on Maddie's phone, waiting for an answer as they sat together on the sofa in their living room.

"Maddie?" answered Vlad.

"Vladdy! Good to hear your voice," said Jack.

"I'm here too, Vlad," said Maddie.

"It's been a while," said Vlad. "I was just thinking about you two last week, wondering how you were doing."

"We're doing great," said Jack. "You?"

"Oh, I'm doing very well." Vlad chuckled. "I would love to show you sometime. You two are welcome to come visit me at my mansion anytime, you know."

"Well, that's sort of why we called," said Maddie.

"Oh?"

"Yes." Maddie paused. "We would like your help with our research."

"Your ghost research, I presume?"

"Yes." Maddie shifted her weight on the couch. "Remember when we said we were working on creating a ghost hybrid of our own?"

"How could I forget?"

"Well, to make a very long story short, we succeeded. We found the perfect candidate and were able to configure our portal to give him ghost powers like yours."

Jack pressed his lips, not liking how she kept saying "we" like he actively helped her in this endeavor.

"Did you now? Really?" asked Vlad. "May I ask who was your candidate?"

Maddie released a loud breath. "Before I tell you, just know he was our only choice. We had been searching for over a decade and couldn't find anyone else who came even close."

Vlad did not respond. Jack leaned back into the couch.

"It was our son," said Maddie

Jack looked up at the ceiling, rubbing an itch on his neck against the couch cushion.

"Your son?" echoed Vlad.

"That's right."

"You mean Daniel?"

"Danny. And we only have one son, Vlad."

"You really turned your own son into a ghost hybrid?"

"Yes," said Maddie. "And we've been watching what he does with his powers for the past few months. But he doesn't know that we know. He doesn't know that we have anything to do with his portal accident that turned him into a ghost hybrid."

"Wait, wait, you mean to tell me that he has no idea what you did to him?" Vlad chuckled. "And by extension, am I right in assuming that he didn't exactly consent to it?"

"No, of course he didn't," said Maddie. "We couldn't let him know. Part of our research is seeing what he chooses to do with his powers without our influence."

"You are just perfect, my dear," said Vlad. "Truly a rarity in the science field."

"Should probably keep it that way," muttered Jack.

"And what has Daniel chosen to do with his powers?" asked Vlad. "Play pranks? Or is he using them to get more of what he wants like I did?"

"Danny's choice for his powers is…interesting, to say the least," said Maddie. "He decided to turn himself into a…superhero, I guess you could say."

"Superhero?"

"Yes. But he doesn't fight crime or anything like that."

"Well, not crime by humans," said Jack.

"Right, he fights ghosts," said Maddie. "Ghosts who enter our world through our portal and wreak havoc. Danny uses his powers to capture them and return them to the Ghost Zone, thus protecting the people of our town."

"Oh, my God." Vlad's breath loudly whispered through the speaker. "I know exactly what you're talking about. I've heard about him."

"You have?"

"Yes. There's been a lot of talk about him in the Ghost Zone among all the ghosts. The half-ghost child who lives with humans but also possesses ghost powers." Vlad laughed. "I had no idea he was your son. But that makes so much sense now."

"From what we've observed, he is indeed becoming very well known in the Ghost Zone," said Jack. "So I guess we shouldn't be surprised you've already heard of him."

"It's interesting that he's chosen to use his powers to fight other ghosts, though," said Vlad. "I'm assuming that must be linked to his ghostly obsession. Do you know what it is yet?"

"No," said Maddie with a shake of her head. "But we are working on figuring that out. All we can gather so far is that he feels responsible for the ghosts coming through the portal in the first place, so he thinks it's his duty to return them all to the Ghost Zone."

"Why would he feel responsible for that?" asked Vlad.

"Maddie made him believe that our portal was broken until he switched it on and shocked himself," said Jack. "So in his head, it's his fault the portal works and is letting in all the ghosts."

Maddie gave him a look. "Right, yes, we made him think that. It was the only way to trick him to go inside the portal."

"I see," said Vlad. "So he's trying to clean up the mess he believes he created."

"That's all we know so far," said Maddie. "Not sure how it might be linked to an obsession just yet."

"But a superhero, that's cute," mused Vlad.

"That leads to our request." Maddie cleared her throat. "Given that Danny has chosen to use his powers to become a superhero, we were interested in giving him…well, a supervillain to fight."

"A supervillain?"

"Yes. Obviously, there are plenty of ghosts, but we were thinking a nemesis who has something in common with him might be good."

"Let me guess: a fellow ghost hybrid?"

Maddie smiled. "I knew you'd catch on to that quickly."

"I can't say I'm not intrigued," said Vlad. "And I'd be very interested in meeting your son."

Maddie lifted her back off the couch. "So you'll do it?"

"Let's discuss it in more detail," said Vlad. "Would you two be able to make a trip to Wisconsin soon?"

"Yes," said Maddie. "Absolutely. We could bring the whole family, actually, so you can meet Danny." She paused. "Might need to come up with some excuse he'll believe. My plan for you to become his archenemy relies on him believing you don't exactly like us. Or you don't like Jack, anyway. Because of the portal incident."

"Oh. Right." Vlad's voice became bitter. "Well, that _was_ Jack's fault."

"I said I was sorry," grumbled Jack.

"No, this is good," said Maddie. "This is what we want for our backstory to make this work. But we just need a reason why you'd invite us to stay with you if you hate Jack so much."

"I was recently asked to host our twentieth college reunion," said Vlad. "Would that work?"

Maddie grinned. "That would be perfect."

Jack slumped into the couch as Maddie and Vlad continued chatting. He wondered how things might've been different if he just hadn't been careless with his cola in that college lab so long ago.

Then maybe Danny would still be one hundred percent human.


	9. Maternal Instinct

Maddie suppressed a groan as she carried Danny on her back through the woods. This was so much easier when he was smaller.

"I, uh, I think we gave those ghost animals the slip," said Danny. "Uh… Shouldn't we figure out a way to call Dad?"

"As much as I hate to say this," said Maddie, "I think we should go back to Vlad's."

Danny jumped off her back and onto the ground. Maddie sighed in relief.

"But he's my archenemy!" Danny protested.

Maddie held back a smirk. He was so terrible at hiding his "secret" from her. The cutest thing, really.

Danny straightened. "I mean, he...said all those horrible things about Dad."

Maddie narrowed her eyes. "We both know he's a creep. But he's a creep with a phone and transportation." She brightened. "And pancakes!" She unbuckled the Specter Deflector from around her waist. "Here, put this on."

She fastened the belt around Danny's waist and locked it. Danny predictably yelped in response.

"I know it's girly," said Maddie, pretending she didn't know the real reason for Danny's discomfort, "but it's for your own protection."

Maddie turned and led the way to Vlad's chalet in the Rockies. Danny muttered something behind her.

At last, the two reached the chalet. Maddie started for the front door, her feet hurting and her back still aching from carrying Danny.

"Are you sure you wanna do this?" asked Danny.

"Danny, if we're gonna get out of here, we need Vlad's help," said Maddie.

Maddie approached the front door. Danny stepped in front of her, blocking her way.

"But before you go in there and flirt your way out of here," said Danny, holding out his arms, "I just wanna say…" He sprang forward and hugged her waist. "I love you!"

Maddie smiled and wrapped her arms around the back of his neck. "I love you, too."

She wished they could stay this way a little longer.

But there were things to be done. And she knew he was only doing this to get the key to the Specter Deflector hanging from her belt.

She pushed him away. "Clingy!"

She knocked on the front door. Vlad opened it almost immediately.

"Maddie! Daniel! You've returned to me." He looked at his watch. "Mmm, and not a moment too soon."

Danny scowled. Maddie glanced at him before returning her attention to Vlad.

"Danny, go somewhere else while the adults talk."

She gave Vlad a coy smile. Vlad smiled back.

"Sure," said Danny, sounding oddly cheerful. "You and Vlad get cozy. If you need me, I'll be over there." He gestured over his shoulder. "Barfing."

Maddie caught a glimpse of the Specter Deflector key in his hand as he entered the chalet. Maddie followed after him.

"I have a fire going already—" Vlad began.

Maddie shook her head. "No. We need somewhere more private right now," she said in a low hiss, eyeing him hard and crossing her arms.

Vlad's mouth drew into a confused pout, but he nodded and led her to the far side of the chalet to a small lab. Vlad shut and bolted the door behind them.

"I always make sure to build a soundproofed lab in each of my abodes. I never know when I might need it," said Vlad. "I do take my research with me wherever I go, after all." He smiled. "As you do as well, of course. Taking Daniel wherever you go if possible."

"What the hell were you thinking?" demanded Maddie, crossing her arms and staring him down.

Vlad blinked. "What? What did I do?"

"The jet? Forcing me and Danny to actually jump out? What was that?"

"I—I thought that was what we—"

"We agreed to the jet taking us to the Rockies instead of Florida. There was nothing about the plane careening and both of us having to use parachutes to escape."

"I was just trying to play the part you wanted me to!" Vlad sputtered. "I figured making it appear that your pilot was compromised and forced the two of you to jump out would be more believable to Daniel."

"You could've done that without endangering us."

"But—"

"I was terrified," screamed Maddie. "Not just for me but for Danny, especially since he had the Specter Deflector on and I had no time to unlock it in case he needed to use his powers to save himself."

"But you were never in any real danger," said Vlad. "Everything was controlled. If you and Daniel didn't jump in time, the ghost pilot would've gotten the plane back under control but let you know that an emergency landing was required."

"And what if our parachutes didn't deploy?"

"They were very well packed. I made sure of it."

"But what if they still didn't work?"

"I still had ghosts watching that would've rescued both of you."

Maddie looked up at the ceiling, blinking moisture out of her eyes. "You should've told me. You endangered me and also my son." She glared at him. "And I can't forgive you for endangering my son."

Vlad narrowed his eyes. "I'm sorry. I thought we were well past the point of worrying about endangering your son."

Maddie stomped her boot. "You should've told me. If you just told me, I would've known what to expect and how to prepare."

Vlad shrugged. "I just thought it would be more authentic this way."

Maddie sniffled and scratched her upper lip. She looked around the lab, which still somehow maintained the feeling of being in a cozy mountain lodge.

"We need to go back out there," said Maddie. "Finish what we started so Danny and I can get out of here and go home." She pointed an aggressive finger at Vlad. "But you are not allowed to do anything involving Danny ever again without telling me exactly what you're planning, understand?"

"Why didn't you tell me this earlier?" asked Vlad. "When you and Daniel were here the first time?"

"There wasn't a chance for us to be alone before, but I'm telling you now. Don't ever do anything like that again, Vlad."

Vlad groaned. "Maddie, come on, I didn't mean to—"

"No. Don't." Maddie shook her head. "Let's just go back out where Danny can hear us."

Vlad stared at her a moment longer before sighing and opening the lab door for her. Maddie marched past him and breathed deeply, attempting to calm the heat out of her cheeks.

The research had to continue. Her work had to go on.

Time to set up this new situation and see what Danny would do next.


	10. Too Far

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The original prompt I responded to when I first started writing this series asked for Maddie to do something that crossed the line for Jack. This part finally addresses that part of the prompt.

"Mads?"

Dressed in his pajamas, Jack peered over the stairs. Maddie hadn't come up to bed yet.

"Mads, it's getting late."

Each stair creaked with his weight as he made his way to the living room. He looked around, but everything was dark.

He stared at the lab door, sighing to himself. She really never took a break.

He gripped the handle to open the door, confused when it stayed shut. Locked? Why had she locked it?

He pulled out his phone and entered her number.

"Jack?" answered Maddie.

"Are you down in the lab?"

"Oh, yes, sorry. I'm just working on something."

"Something you don't want me to know about?"

A pause. "No, of course not."

"Then why is the door locked?"

Another pause. "It's just to keep Danny and Jazz out, not you."

"Then why don't you unlock the door for me?"

A third pause, and this time the call disconnected. Moments later, the lab door opened.

"Hey, sorry about that," said Maddie, her hood pulled up and goggles covering her eyes.

Jack pushed past her down the stairs. "What are you working on this late at night that you didn't invite me to join you on?"

"Ah, it's just something I've been working on for a while."

"What is it?"

"Ah—well—"

Jack scanned Maddie's workstation. Test tubes of fluid, small dishes of tissue samples, and long strands of red hair.

God, no.

Jack picked up one strand. "Is this Jazz's hair?"

Maddie pushed her goggles up on her head. "Just listen to me—"

"What are you doing with Jazz's hair? And are these other samples hers, too?"

"Yes. Let me just—"

"What are you doing with all of these? Because the last time your station looked like this, it was Danny's samples."

"Yes, I know." Maddie gestured to the samples. "I've been running all the same tests, seeing how her DNA would handle the same mutation." She beamed. "And guess what? She's ready for it! Her body would accept it now."

"What? What are you talking about? You said before Danny was the only candidate."

"Well, he was, but—"

"What do you mean, she's ready? Like she wasn't ready before but she is now?"

"Yes!" cried Maddie. "When I tested her samples before, her DNA rejected the mutation, but not anymore! Now she can take it."

"Why?" Jack set Jazz's hair down. "What changed?"

Maddie adjusted the goggles on her head, suddenly not looking at him at all.

"Maddie." Jack scowled at her. "What did you do?"

Maddie chewed her bottom lip. "Look, I only didn't tell you because I knew you wouldn't go for it."

"Wouldn't go for what? Didn't tell me what?"

"This is the next step in our research, Jack! We've come so far with Danny, and he's done so well with it. And this will have all of the health and vitality benefits for Jazz too—"

"What did you do to Jazz, Maddie?"

Jack's voice was loud, booming. Maddie's hand reached to her neck, her fingers kneading into the collar of her jumpsuit.

"She's been injected with nanobots and was exposed to high levels of ecto-radiation when she wore the Ecto-Skeleton," said Maddie. "So her vitals can be controlled so she can survive the shock. And her body has been infused with ectoplasmic properties from the Ecto-Skeleton, allowing her to accept the spectral mutation."

Jack stared at her. "What?"

"Bloodstream nanobots. They can—"

"I know what they do. How and when were they injected into Jazz?"

Maddie looked off to the side. "Remember when Jazz ran off to Vlad's mansion in Wisconsin? When she was having that fight with Danny about how she was getting in the way of his ghost fighting?"

Jack eyed her warily. "Yeah, I remember that."

"Well. Vlad had modified our Ecto-Skeleton so that it no longer kills the wearer. And he had also managed to get his hands on a supply of nanobots. So I just asked him to—"

"What?" snapped Jack. "What the hell did you ask him to do?"

Maddie held up her palms. "I was curious to see what Danny would do if his sister somehow became an enemy for him. And then the nanobots, well, remember when I theorized a few years ago that we could perhaps keep a candidate alive during the mutation process if we could control their vitals using bloodstream nanobots?"

"Yes, and I agreed with you," said Jack. "Back when I thought we were going to be finding a willing participant."

"Danny didn't need the nanobots to survive, which made him perfect," said Maddie. "But Jazz needed more help than that. So I asked Vlad—"

"Vlad was really in on this, too?"

"—to inject her with the nanobots and then put her in the Ecto-Skeleton—"

"No, you didn't." Jack glared at her. "You didn't do that without telling me. Without _asking_ me."

"Now see, this is why I didn't tell you, because I knew you'd never go for it."

"Of course not. Because it's insane. And it's our _daughter_."

"But don't you see, Jack? We can prove that anyone can become half ghost with the proper preparation! We can mutate and transform Jazz in the same way we did Danny—"

"No!" shouted Jack. "We are not doing this to Jazz."

"But—"

"No. This is not up for debate. It's not happening."

Maddie's eyes hardened, her lips pursed. "This is our work, Jack. This is our _life's_ work. This is everything we've been pursuing for over twenty years now."

"I don't care. Find someone else to test this out on."

"But Jazz's body has already been prepped. It would be expensive to prepare someone else."

" _I don't care_ ," screamed Jack. "I don't give a _fuck_ that you've already done all this work to get her ready for a mutation behind my back. I'm not going to let you do it, Maddie."

Maddie crossed her arms and looked over at the portal.

"And if you do _anything_ to her, I will turn both of us in," said Jack. "I'll tell the police everything we've been doing. Everything we've done to Danny."

Maddie's jaw dropped. "What? You can't!"

"Believe me, I don't want to. But doing this to Jazz is going too far."

"Do you even realize—"

"I do. I definitely realize how bad it would be for both of us. How long we'd be locked away. How our kids would be parentless."

Jack looked up at the ceiling and imagined both of his children sleeping in their beds.

"But I'm sure even they'd agree no parents are better than parents who use them as research subjects," said Jack more quietly.

Maddie's face flushed with intense heat. "You can't do this to us now, Jack."

"I let you get away with far too much with Danny. I'm not letting you do the same to Jazz."

Jack stomped past her toward the stairs, his chest and limbs flooding with angry adrenaline.

"Really?" Maddie called after him. "You didn't fight me at all when it was Danny, but now you're threatening me when it's Jazz?"

Jack gripped the stair rail and turned back to her. Her face was still red.

"I should've known." Maddie's tone was dark. "Jazz always was your favorite."

"And Danny was always yours," said Jack. "And if you can do what you've done to him, then I'd hate to see what you could do to a child you don't love as much."

He did not look at her face again as he climbed the stairs out of the lab.


	11. The Fourteenth Clone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The idea for this part came from Dp-Marvel94. Thanks!

Jack watched the newest clone sleep. The boy’s chest rose and fell, rhythmically, deeply, gently.

Besides the number 14 tattooed on his upper arm, he looked exactly like Danny in his human form.

Jack rested his arms on the examination table, watching the clone’s face for any change or stirring consciousness. He had been instructed to stay by the clone’s side and mark the exact time he woke while Maddie was upstairs waiting to see when Danny would leave for his patrol.

Jack hoped the clone wouldn’t wake at all this time.

He glanced over the notes Maddie had made for their research and experimentation with this clone, who had been here several days now. Not the longest they had kept a clone. There was the tenth clone they starved who didn’t die for a few weeks.

Jack wasn’t sure which he hated more: the experiments that killed the clones quickly or the ones that required keeping the clones alive for an extended amount of time.

Either way, the clones screamed and screamed but were unheard outside the soundproofed lab.

And Maddie ignored them all.

The clone’s body twitched against the belts strapping him to the table. Jack watched the clone’s eyes slit open before looking at the clock and jotting down a time on his notepad.

“Oh, God,” the clone moaned. “Oh, God, no.”

Jack noted the clone’s watery eyes and thick articulation. “How are you feeling? Headache? Nausea? Do you know where you are right now?”

“Where is she?” The clone’s face paled. “Mom?”

“She doesn’t like you calling her that,” said Jack. “And she’s not here yet. Please just tell me how you’re feeling. You know what happens when you make things hard for us.”

The clone swallowed. “My neck and throat hurt. I’m really thirsty.”

Jack recorded the clone’s words. “I’ll see if Maddie will let you have some water before we start tonight.”

The clone sniffled. “I keep hoping I’ll wake up in my bed.”

Jack lowered his eyes.

“What are you going to do to me this time?” whispered the clone.

“More drug trials,” said Jack.

The clone shut his eyes, tears trickling from the corners. “No. Please. I don’t want to do any more. Not again.”

“I know,” said Jack. “Hopefully one of them will knock you out again so you can sleep through most of the day until tomorrow night.”

“No. No, I don’t want that, I just want to leave, I just—”

The clone’s chest convulsed, his body writhing against the restraints. Jack clenched his teeth and clasped his hands on the table.

“It hurts so much,” wept the clone. “Dad, please, I can’t do this anymore.”

“I’m not your dad,” said Jack. This was how Maddie was able to do this guilt free, convince herself that the clone was not her son.

So why wasn’t this working for him too?

“You’re not Danny,” he said more quietly.

The clone choked on a sob. “You keep telling me that. You keep telling me that I’m not real, that I’m a clone.”

The clone looked at the far wall, his eyes glassing over.

“But this feels real.” His words were barely audible, hardly voiced. “I feel real. And I don’t know why you and Mom are keeping me here like this.”

Jack pressed his hands to his forehead. “Maddie is so much better at this,” he muttered.

“Why are you keeping me here?” asked the clone.

“It’s just for research,” said Jack, lowering his hands with a tired sigh. “You’re not the first clone we’ve had here in this lab. You’re not going to be the first we kill here.” He paused. “And you won’t be the last.”

The clone’s breathing became erratic, shallow. “I don’t want to die,” he gasped. “I don’t—not here—not like this—”

Jack looked away from the clone’s face. Too pitiful, too sad, too much like Danny.

“You can’t,” the clone blubbered. “Don’t. Please. Don’t do this, Dad.”

Jack looked toward the lab door. Maddie still wasn’t here.

He looked at the clone again. The clone blinked wet eyes.

He imagined the clone’s unmoving body. He imagined zipping it up in another bag and carrying it to Vlad’s lab because Maddie always made him carry the body.

He knew exactly what the clone would look like when he died. Jack had seen it thirteen times now.

He did not want to see it a fourteenth.

Jack moved quickly, undoing the belts around the clone’s ankles, wrists, and abdomen.

“Go,” he said once the last belt was undone. “Leave.”

The clone sat up on the table and stared at Jack with his mouth hanging open.

“Go. Before Maddie gets here,” said Jack quietly but firmly. “Get far away from here and don’t come back.”

The clone clutched the fabric of his hospital gown against his chest.

“Go,” said Jack more forcefully, “or you will die.”

The clone pulled his knees up under him. Jack gave him a final warning glare. The clone transformed into his ghost form and shot up through the ceiling, vanishing beyond it.

Jack hunched over the now vacant examination table.

The lab door opened. Jack listened to the sound of Maddie’s boots clicking on the stairs.

“Sorry I took so long,” said Maddie. “I kept waiting to see when Danny was going to leave for his nightly patrol. But he decided to do his homework instead and then went to bed, no patrol. It’s interesting how he sometimes chooses being a good student over a hero.”

Jack straightened but did not say anything. Maddie stopped a short distance away from the table.

“Where’s the clone?” she asked.

Jack didn’t look at her.

“Where’s the clone?” she asked again, her tone sharpening.

“He’s gone,” said Jack.

“Gone? What do you mean, gone?”

“I let him go.”

Maddie froze.

“Why?” she asked with a dark thickness.

“I couldn’t do it again, Maddie.”

Her nostrils flared. Her upper lip curled in a snarl.

“I told him to get away from here,” said Jack. “Far away so you can’t hurt him anymore. So you can’t kill him.”

Maddie stared at him. Jack waited for her to snap, to scream.

But instead, she turned on her heel and stomped up the stairs out of the lab. Jack released a sigh as the lab door slammed shut.

He set to cleaning and organizing the lab. He wasn’t about to go up to bed right now, not when Maddie was this angry with him.

Hours later, Jack rubbed his eyes and checked the clock. Nearly four in the morning. Should he go upstairs to bed, or should he sleep on the couch? Or even down here in the lab?

The lab door opened. Jack furrowed his brow and turned toward the stairs. Maddie’s boots clicked on each step as usual, but something else thumped along beside her, something that sounded heavy.

Maddie appeared at the base of the stairs, her orange goggles set over her eyes and aimed right at Jack, her lips curved in a stern frown.

Beside her, she held the fourteenth clone by the wrist, now in his human form and wearing the hospital gown Vlad had originally dressed him in. He was slumped on the floor, covered in gashes and scrapes, his left eye bloodied.

“Maddie.” Jack gaped. “Maddie, what did you—”

Maddie gripped the clone’s wrist tighter and lifted him off the floor. “He has the same ecto-signature Danny does. All the clones do. It was easy to track him down.”

The clone hung his head.

“You really tracked him down just to bring him back here?” asked Jack.

“Of course I did,” snapped Maddie. “You know we can’t just let these clones free. We can’t risk Danny running into them. Or God forbid, the Guys in White capturing them.”

Jack watched a trickle of blood fall from past the clone’s hairline down his forehead.

“So what do you want to do now?” asked Jack quietly, calmly. “Proceed with your plans for this clone?”

“No. He’s useless now,” said Maddie. “He’s not in proper condition for further experimentation. Everything we’ve done with him is pointless data now.”

Maddie threw the clone forward onto the floor. The clone crumpled and did not get up. His sleeve hiked just above the number 14 tattooed on his arm.

“Waste of our money,” she muttered.

Jack sighed and rubbed the back of his head. “Then what do you want to do with him?”

“Just quick lethal injection,” said Maddie. “Let’s just do it now and go to bed.”

“Quick lethal injection. Glad you’re being humane about this,” said Jack.

Maddie jabbed a finger in his direction. “Don’t start with me. We’ll talk about this in the morning. Right now, I am exhausted.”

“Right. Beating up a teenage boy takes a lot out of you,” said Jack.

Maddie glared at him before moving to the counters to prepare the injection. Jack bent and scooped the clone into his arms. Up close, Jack could now see the red splotches in his eyes, the break in his nose, the split in his bottom lip.

He didn’t beg for anything this time.

...

The next morning, Danny met Sam and Tucker outside on the school steps.

“Hey, I thought you said you weren’t going on patrol last night,” said Tucker.

“Yeah, you said you actually wanted to get some sleep for once,” said Sam with a wry smile.

“You should’ve told us you changed your mind!” said Tucker. “We would’ve joined you. Or did your ghost sense go off?”

Danny frowned. “I didn’t go out last night. What are you talking about?”

“I saw you flying last night,” said Tucker. “I was looking out my window and saw you.”

“What? You saw me?”

“Did you decide to go for just a night flight?” asked Sam.

“No, I didn’t go out at all. You couldn’t have seen me.”

“It looked just like you,” said Tucker. “Are you sure you weren’t out last night?”

The first bell rang. Students began shuffling past them into the building.

“I wasn’t out last night,” said Danny. “I actually finished my homework for once and then went to bed.”

“Huh.” Tucker shrugged. “I guess it was a different ghost with white hair in a black suit.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time you were seeing things,” teased Sam. “Your eyes were probably bugging out from staying up too late playing video games.”

“They were not!”

“Were you even wearing your glasses?”

“Yes, of course I was!”

Sam and Tucker led the way inside the school. Danny followed, but not before glancing up at the sky.


End file.
